Acclaimed jazz musician Jeremy Walker plays the piano in the basement of his parents home in north Minneapolis, Minn., Tuesday, July 23, 2013. He's suffering from Lyme disease and had to give up playing the saxophone.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Acclaimed jazz musician Jeremy Walker plays the piano in the basement of his parents home in north Minneapolis, Minn., Tuesday, July 23, 2013. He's suffering from Lyme disease and had to give up playing the saxophone.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Jeremy Walker limps slowly down the stairs to the room where he lives in his parents’ basement in North Minneapolis.

A decade ago, Walker brought a new season of jazz to downtown St. Paul with his club, Brilliant Corners, at Fourth and Wabasha streets. Today, Walker, 41, suffers from the advanced stages of Lyme disease; his career as a jazz saxophonist is over; and he has no health insurance.

But in this dark place, he sits down at his piano and, suddenly, all is well as music fills the room.

“He hangs on to the dream,” said David Berkman, friend and fellow jazz pianist.

The music helps, and so do his friends.

A benefit for Walker will be Thursday at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis.

“Jeremy has been a partner of ours, supporting music in the Twin Cities for so long, and so we want to be a partner with him in this way now,” said Meg Cadogan, marketing manager at the Dakota.

As his health mysteriously began deteriorating several years ago, Walker had trouble standing, holding his saxophone and using the mouthpiece.

“I was a saxophonist, but I couldn’t play,” Walker said.

His livelihood, which included teaching, drained away. He also gave up bicycling, his other passion, as well as his side job as a bicycle mechanic.

Walker now walks with a pronounced limp and uses a cane. He has trouble sleeping and suffers bouts of confusion, disorientation and stuttering.

Several years ago, Walker was tested for Lyme, a tick-borne illness, but results were negative. Conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Bell’s palsy and Lou Gehrig’s disease also were ruled out, along with many other possibilities.

This year, the mystery was finally solved.

“A friend at my parents’ church said, ‘Tell him to be re-tested for Lyme. It’s the only thing it could be,’ ” Walker said.

“This time, he was administered a new kind of test,” said Marsha Walker, Walker’s wife. “It came back as Lyme positive. It was such a relief, after all these years of him being sick, to finally know why and to have a plan.”

For Walker, it felt different.

“At first, I was sadder than I would have expected,” he said. “It was frustrating to think of all the money and time that had been lost. The medical bills have ruined us. I estimate my lost income at, conservatively, $150,000.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, more than 17,000 cases of tick-borne disease were reported in Minnesota from 1996 to 2012. Nearly 13,000 of those cases were Lyme disease.

The number of Lyme disease cases has increased dramatically since the 1990s. The Health Department reports that physician awareness, increasing infection rates in ticks and expanding tick distribution might account for the increase. Patients with Lyme disease in 2012 ranged in age from 1 to 92 years; the median age was 39 years; and 63 percent of cases reported that year were male.

The Walkers are moving forward: The couple have enlisted the assistance of a Montana-based physician who specializes in fighting Lyme using a blend of natural and traditional techniques. They are scheduled to meet with her Wednesday via Skype to discuss the treatment ahead, which will include powerful antibiotics.

Based on his health history, the Walkers said, the physician said he might have acquired Lyme disease as a child.

“From the time he was 10 or 12, he thought it was normal to experience joint pain,” Marsha Walker said.

Now, he knows different.

“The doctor tells me I will feel better,” Walker said.

Ted Nash, a jazz composer and saxophonist based in New York City, is coming to play at his friend’s benefit. It will not be a lament.

“Whenever something bad happens, something good happens,” Nash said. “I see it all the time.”

In this case, the good includes Walker’s expanding repertoire: He is now focusing on composing and arranging, and he is becoming known professionally as a gifted jazz pianist.

“It was terrifying to switch instruments, and I don’t think I would have if I hadn’t been forced to,” Walker said. “But I think I was meant to play the piano.”

In this way, the benefit also will be a celebration.

“One of the nice things about the music world is that wherever you go, it’s a community,” said Berkman, who will perform at the benefit fresh from teaching at a jazz camp in Latvia.

“Whether I’m teaching younger players or hanging out with peers or getting to play with my heroes and icons of music, it’s a community and we support each other,” Berkman said. “And that’s what we’re doing here.”

Molly Guthrey can be reached at 651-228-5505.

If you go

What: Artists hit the Dakota stage for the Jeremy Walker Benefit Bash to assist the composer and pianist recently diagnosed with late-stages Lyme disease. Performers include Grammy nominee Ted Nash; New York City pianist and composer David Berkman; the Anthony Cox band Happy Spirits; Walker’s band, Boot C singers from the Minnesota Opera; and writer and comedian Joseph Scrimshaw. The event will include a wall of wine and a silent auction.

Tickets: $50 per person. To order, go to tinyurl.com/dakota-walker or call 612-332-1010. The ticket price does not include fees, food or beverage. A full menu is available. Ticket revenue (minus fees) and all on-site donations will be contributed to the cause.

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